MacBook Air Clones: The Battle Continues…

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Comments Posted on Sep 04, 2009 Posted by Yellow Tiger

The shanzhai manufacturers’ love affair with Apple products shows no signs of abating, with a new MacBook Air-inspired notebook about to hit the market. We were shown this device (which will come not just in the lovely pink you can see in the pics after the jump, but also black, white and silver) in the offices of maker, XZX Group.

These Shanzhai-made devices not only come with better connectivity options than the limited Apple device (no Ethernet port, only one recessed USB port, etc), but the overall build quality seems to be quickly improving too.

Pink-mac-air3

Of course, if it’s a straight up comparison you’re after, this device is going to lose out by a fair margin in the performance stakes, and it’s also worth pointing out that like the Apple product the battery on this device is also non-removable, which is a bit of a drawback. Interesting to see a mini USB and mini display port though.

Pink-mac-air2

Some specs:
CPU：Intel ATOM N270
Chipset：845GSE+GMA950
RAM：1GB
HD：160GB
Screen：11.1”
Thickness：23.5mm
Weight：1.1KG
Battery：2700mAh non-removable
Available on market：SEP-OCT ‘09
Ports：2 USB, 1 mini USB, 1 mini display

Western Opportunity Analysis:

Another slick, unbranded device that consumers would love to get their hands on. With the quality of these Shanzhai devices improving by the day, it won’t be long before you start to see these type of devices springing up in small batches at your local electronics store.

Conclusions:

XZX Group told us this device would retail for under USD 300. When we start to see this kind of quality along with the performance that’s going to come with the new Atom 330 processor, perhaps coupled with an NVIDIA chipset on an Ion platform, then the Shanzhai manufacturers are going to have a product that’s going to make companies like Apple sit up and take notice.

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